DANNY LEE HILL CASE Judge hearing appeal refuses to step down

The judge asserted that he had no additional knowledge of the Hill case.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The visiting judge hearing the appeal of Death Row inmate Danny Lee Hill has decided not to remove himself from the case.
Judge Thomas Patrick Curran made the decision Friday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
Hill, 38, of Warren, was sentenced to death in 1986 for the 1985 murder of 12-year-old Raymond Fife.
Curran, a visiting judge from Cuyahoga County, has been hearing legal arguments on whether Hill should be given relief from his death sentence.
The Ohio Public Defender's Office representing Hill has argued that Hill should not die because of a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that execution of the retarded is cruel and unusual punishment. Hill says he is retarded.
In asking Judge Curran to recuse himself, the lawyers argued that the judge had gained "extraordinary knowledge" of the Hill case through a civil matter.
The attorneys asserted that the judge presided over a dispute involving Dr. Douglas Darnall, a psychologist who gave an opinion on Hill's mental status.
Challenged allegations
The Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office challenged the defense allegations, asserting that the defense was only attempting to delay the court's decision of Hill's appeal.
In a sworn affidavit filed with the clerk's office, Judge Curran denied having any knowledge about Darnall's case against the State Board of Psychology. Judge Curran wrote that he never reviewed any materials in the Darnall case.
The judge asserted that he didn't perform any work on the case because Janet Firment, a court assignment clerk, told him that the attorneys involved in it intended to settle in the immediate future.
"Under those circumstances, I thought it inappropriate to perform substantial work on this file, inasmuch as the state is charging by the hour for the judicial work of a visiting judge," Judge Curran wrote.
The case involving Darnall and the state board was settled between the parties.
"I was not consulted about the details of the settlement agreement. I am not currently aware of the details of the resolution of the case," Judge Curran wrote in the affidavit
yovich@vindy.com